Backforming

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. The process of creating a new word by removing an affix from an existing word, often by treating a part mistakenly as a suffix or prefix, thus forming a simpler or shorter form
2. The linguistic phenomenon where a complex word is reduced by cutting off an assumed affix to produce a new base word, frequently based on misanalysis of the original term
3. A method in word formation involving the removal of perceived endings or beginnings from a longer word to generate a novel term, commonly derived through incorrect morphological parsing

Etymology: "Backforming" is the present participle and gerund of the verb "backform," which is itself a back-formation from "backformation." The word is a nice case of the process describing itself: "backformation" was built from "back-" and "formation," and "backform" was then carved out of it by stripping off the "-ation" ending, as if that ending were a suffix attached to a shorter base. The basic structure is simple. "Back-" is an English prefix meaning reversal or going against the direction of something, and "form" is the root of "formation." The coinage of "backform" is therefore a second step, a reversal of the usual flow of word formation, in which a noun yields a verb rather than the other way round. "Backforming" then inflects that verb in the ordinary way, with the "-ing" ending that makes it both a participle and a gerund.

Synonyms: back-formation